Threshold Photodetachment Spectroscopy of the Positronium Negative Ion

Threshold photodetachment spectroscopy of the positronium negative ion has been accomplished for the first time employing an efficient source of the ions and photodetachment techniques combined with a tunable optical parametric oscillator and amplifier laser. The photodetachment threshold, corresponding to the electron affinity of positronium (1^{3}S_{1}), was determined to be 326.88±0.09(stat)±0.10(syst) meV by laser photodetachment threshold measurements. This result is consistent with a variational calculation corrected for leading relativistic and quantum electrodynamical effects.